


Not all who wander

by Its_Kaleb



Series: Not all who wander [1]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Injury, Canon Non-Binary Character, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Magic, Major Character Injury, Multi, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:15:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28386108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Its_Kaleb/pseuds/Its_Kaleb
Summary: After finding a weird crystal in a cave, alex's life gets turned upside down. When space men come and claim that they're called 'a guardain', and they have to go with them to see their space cult to get training, and to help save their world.No beta, we die like men
Relationships: CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo/Original Character(s), Crosshair (Star Wars: The Bad Batch)/Original Character(s), Hunter (Star Wars: The Bad Batch)/Original Character(s), Tech (Star Wars: The Bad Batch)/Original Character(s), Wrecker (Star Wars: The Bad Batch)/Original Character(s)
Series: Not all who wander [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2078952
Kudos: 1





	1. Star watching and Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! this is my first story on here, so i hope this is good! and i plan to upload more when it can, thanks!!  
> -Kal

The crisp night air clung to me like a soft embrace, star, and moonlight falling softly down onto the world below. On nights like these, staring into the empty void of space makes me feel small. There could be millions of people out there, and we still don't know. What if there were people out there? Could we talk to them? Interact with them? I was brought out of my thoughts by a pebble hitting my shoe, “Oi, Alex,” a voice called from below the metal roof I was sitting on, “You coming inside, or are you gonna stay out here and freeze?” I smiled softly. “Nah mate, think I'll stay out here with the coyotes and freeze,” the other voice laughed. “No, Ryan, I'm coming inside, you dumbass.” Ryan faked a gasp when I called him a dumbass like he always does, “How dare you! Hmpf,” he huffed and walked back inside, still smiling all the while. I smiled and climbed down from the roof, giving one last look towards the night sky. And I noticed a shooting star, and then I walked inside.

Once inside, I grabbed a drink from the fridge. My dog wagged his tail and walked up to me. we began to walk towards my room. “Hey ya, stinky,” I said to, him and he woofed softly at me. “Hey, be nice to him!” Ryan called from the other room. “Stinky, stink rat-man,” I said with a grin, “Noo!” Ryan said, running over to cover his ears, “Don't listen to, him Skaldi!” I laughed, and Skaldi began to lick Ryan's face. We both laughed, all the while skaldi was sitting on the floor. “Rat man,” I mumbled to Ryan, “Bastard boy.” Ryan fake pouted but couldn't keep that face for more than a few moments. “Be nice to my white shepherd boy,” Ryan said to me, “Oh, I wasn't talking about skaldi then…” I said with a sly grin as I walked into my room, skaldi behind me on my heels. “hey!” Ryan shouted at me as I closed my door. I shook my head with a smile as sakldi jumped onto my bed, making himself comfy. I changed my clothes and climbed into bed, yokining my blanket from the dog. He eventually came and lay down behind me. “I swear if one of your cold paws touch me, ima scream so loud…” I mumbled; Sakldi just huffed and fell asleep. With a small smile, I fell asleep too.

In the morning, I got up around six am, ready and excited for the day ahead. Ryan and I were going cave exploring. I jumped out of bed and ran to Ryan's room, kicking open his door, and I shouted, “WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD!” He nearly fell out of bed, “ah..fuck” he mumbled, still very much asleep. I laughed out loud, skaldi running into the room on alert mode. “We gotta go! it's like a three-hour drive out to the cave, and I wanna get there early!” I said, leaving the room. “If your not awake in thirty mins then I'm gonna come splash water on ya, cold, cold water…” I heard Ryan grumble” fuck yOu bItCh” he mocked. I shook my head and smiled after eating a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, and a shit load of cheese. We both got ready for the day. We gathered all of our gear, like climbing harnesses, ropes, some MREs, and food for skaldi. Once we got everything packed up, I threw skald's vest on him and loaded him into the jeep. “Off we go! ADVENTURE!” both Ryan and I shouted, followed by skaldi howling. We loaded up into the jeep, which had its top and doors off, and for a moment, I had a weird feeling...but I brushed it off. We were going on an adventure! I don't get time to worry about strange feelings. Me and Ryan high fived, and we took off into the mountains.

The whole way to the mountain, we blasted music like the crane wives and ACDC. Ryan was asleep for most of the ride, and so was skaldi. The whole way there, I just have something sitting at the back of my mind, like I'm about to do something stupid. Generally, if it were just me, I would turn around...But Ryan wanted to do this. He’s been looking forward to it for weeks ever since I found the cave weeks ago. I didn't go inside because he wanted to see it with me. I shook my head; I'm sure we’ll be fine, right? I have all the safety equipment we could need, and we’ll be fine. But once we got there, the feeling became more prevalent. Ignoring it, I woke Ryan and skaldi up. ‘We’re here, nerd,” I said with a soft smile. He jumped up with a grin. “Hell yeah!” Skaldi woofed, and they both jumped out of the jeep. We loaded into our harnesses and got on the rest of our gear, and proceeded into the cave


	2. Screw ups and alcohol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After reaching the cave, alex and ryan begin to explore...only to stumble across something strange

The cave we entered is surrounded by thick forest brush and trees, and It smelt of pine and wet earth. Not like those candles you get a bath and body works, this is good stuff. I readjusted the back on my shoulder as we walked into the cave. I could hear water dripping from the cave roof onto the floor below. "Wow...this looks creepy," said Ryan, "Well, it's a cave, so…" I said back. What did he think it was gonna look like a castle? "Alright, city boy," I let the pack on my shoulder fall to the floor as I dug out some more gear, like a headlamp, a big knife, a go pro on a headband, and a gun. "My go pro is gonna record our whole exploration. Take the lamp, and I will lead you into the cave," I said, handing him the lamp. He looked at the gun in my other hand. It was an old small revolver. "What's that for?" I smiled, "Cave monsters," I said. Ryan stopped and stared at me with the most 'i fuckin hate you' face. "No, I'm for real. You never know what's out here, man," I said, slinging the gun into its holster on my leg and putting the knife on my other side.

"Cave monsters, my ass," said Ryan as we proceeded further into the cave. I felt a wave of uncertainty. Should we be going in this thing? What about cougars or bears? I shook it off, and we should be fine. We strolled into the cave, and I went first. Ryan and I made idle talk, just about anything we could think of as we traversed the cave. Until Ryan stopped me, "Hey, look!" he pointed towards the wall. "Holy shit," I mumbled, getting closer. It was almost like a cave painting, but this was carved into the wall by something. It had to be sharp enough to cut through the rock. But it was written in another language. "What do you think it is?" Ryan asked. I shook my head.

"No idea...but I don't think it is English," Ryan scoffed. "Duh," he mumbled. I pulled out my phone and took a picture while my headset was recording. We continued into the cave, and I could hear a low humming. It bothered me until we came across a big opening. It had to be human-made as the rocks looked like they have been carved with tools. "god," I mumbled in shock. This day keeps getting weirder and weirder. At the center of this room was a crystal, missing a little less than half of it, rotating and levitating on a pedal stool. I'm not sure why but I felt almost drawn to it. "Dibs on the crystal," I shouted, making my way down to it.

"Hey-hey! wait, dammit!" Ryan shouted behind me, trying to keep up, "Don't touch-" Too late, I touched it. "See ry! nothing happen-" I was beginning to say, until the crystal lit up, vibrantly glowing. I felt a searing pain in my arm as the crystal markings began to spread to my arm. "AH, shit shit shit!" I screamed, then my eyes rolled back into my head. I could hear Ryan screaming at me and other voices? Then...I could see them? Faintly, like ghosts. They all sounded male, and they were shouting at something? "Kriff, it's activating!" "Stand back!" "What's going on!?" I watched what was unfolding. One turned towards me, eyes wide as he could see me? I cocked my head to the side in confusion, and the hell was going on? The others turned towards me, eyes wide. Then I passed out.

When I woke up, I could tell I wasn't in that cave any more. I was on the couch back home. A dull ache in my arm and hand as I attempted to get up. I was gritting my teeth as it felt like I got hit by a bus. I was almost up until a hand pushed me back down onto the couch. "Rest, your safe, Alex" It turned out to my Ryan. "Ry? what happened?" I coughed out, throat dry and cracked. Ryan handed me a cup of water, which I drank eagerly. "You fucked up," Ryan spoke, his typically playful demeanor gone, replaced by a stern, sad face. "You've been out for three days." This caused me to cough on the water I was drinking "Three- fuckin three days?" I sat up, cringing at the pain in my arm. "Shit, I missed work. David is going to kill me" Ryan shook his head. "I called David and told them you got hurt and will be out for a bit. David said it's fine and to rest," I sighed, leaning back on the couch. 'Ry im-" He held up his hand, "Do you know how worried I've been? You had a high fever for three days, I should have taken you to the hospital, but we both know we can't afford that. And how would I explain this to them?" He spoke softly, "What if something happened to you?" he mumbled. "Oh, Ryan. I'm sorry. But look! I'm fine, I'm okay now!" I said, trying to cheer him up in any way that I could. "hey….I got that good Shit…" I said, poking his arm. I could tell he was trying not to smile now. "It's in the special cupboard…" He finally cracked and smiled.

"Fine," he spoke, "You win" I smiled, throwing my arms up in celebration. "yes!" I shouted, then wincing at the movement of my arm. "ow.." Ryan only scoffed at my "Dumbass.." he muttered, "But I'm your dumbass." I spoke back, using my hands to do finger guns, "That's gay!" he shouted back, and we both broke into laughter. He came back over with shot glasses and the lovely bottle of excellent whisky. The rest of the night, we drank, laughing our asses off. Trying to forget what had happened, at least for the night. But at the back of my mind, I couldn't help but think of the people I saw, the pain from touching the crystal. Part of me wanted to think that it was all just a fever dream, that what i saw wasn’t real. But another part of me knew it was, hell i could still feel the pain in my bandaged arm. Luckily for the rest of the night, the whisky made it easy to forget, the burning in my throat felt good and I gladly welcomed it. After a while we both ended up going to bed, but as I lay down...I had this nagging feeling in my brain that something was going to change.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kids, dont touch weird floating crystals in strange caves


End file.
